Maximizing Your Happiness Meter

[Happy Faces by Alice Herden -- LEGAL USE OF THIS PHOTO LICENSED AND SECURED VIA DREAMSTIME - August 2014]

Lately, I’m confronting the topic of happiness in my life. I’m a fortunate person; my opportunities are many and I have wonderful people in my life who care about me.

That being said, I want to maximize the “happiness meter” in my life.

How, you ask?

First, let’s consider my diet. I control my calorie intake by using MyFitnessPal, which is a wonderful tool that helps a person monitor their calories to meet their health and weight goals. Currently, I’m happy to announce that I’m in maintenance mode. My current weight is healthy for me, including a healthy body mass index (BMI). However, living in maintenance mode doesn’t mean that I can eat what I want, when I want. As such, when I want to indulge in gratuitous calories, I want to consume the BEST and MOST TASTY foods for the calories consumed. I don’t want to waste them on any old donut; I want to select higher-quality tasty foods that maximize my happiness meter. Last night, that included a large slice of chocolate pie. At first, I thought it was supposed to be chocolate cream, though it turned out to be chocolate meringue. *insert sad expression* I don’t like meringue, so I only ate the crust and the chocolate part. While the chocolate portion tasted okay, my happiness meter wasn’t exactly pegged over my selection.

That’s only one example, of course, but you probably see where I’m going with this.

Many aspects of our life are finite, chiefly among them, our life span. So, when I have some discretionary time available to me, I want to expend the moments via the most satisfying manner possible. That is, I want to maximize my happiness meter.

Recently, I decided that I want to read a novel…someone else’s! I carefully perused my to-be-read (TBR) list and researched my top three selections on both Goodreads and Amazon. Finally, I downloaded The Name of the Wind, the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. I’m staring it today, in fact. Therefore, my happiness meter is currently in flux. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Do you have a happiness meter? If so, what satisfying “item” pegged it for you most recently?

And, of course, what are you reading right now?

I want to know, so please leave a comment for me!

Oh, and my latest YouTube video for the week of October 11th is going live by tonight, so please check it out! My YouTube videos are at CLICK HERE.

Until later, enjoy life; be kind to those around you, and Happy Reading! Peace.

What’s On Your Fall Must-Watch List?

[LEGAL USE OF THIS PHOTO LICENSED AND SECURED VIA DREAMSTIME - July 2014 – Photo by Fedor Patrakov]

Autumn has arrived, and yet, it was just Labor Day only a handful of days ago. Where does the time go?

I know where some of it has gone. During the weekend of September 18 – 20, I attended the annual writers’ conference at Rose State College. My lovely publicist, Vicki Rose, flew down to attend the event with me. Both of us had a marvelous time, and I met a number of wonderful authors, both previously-published and aspiring. On top of that, all four of my session presentations were successful, and I hope that the materials I presented were helpful to the attendees. Between William Martin, Mel Odom, and William Bernhardt, there were more than enough talented authors present for attendees to glean helpful insights into writing and publishing.

Aside from the writers’ conference, I’m engaged in a number of diversions and projects. For one, I’m actively working to respond to the recommendations and edits from my editor, Laura, on my upcoming Bringer Unleashed, which is still scheduled for a November release date. For another, the season premieres for a litany of television shows has begun in earnest. Personal enjoyment aside, it’s important for artists to rejuvenate and fill their creative wells, which TV shows are great at stimulating inside me.

Here’s a number of the MUST-WATCH television shows that I’m dedicating my viewing hours to:

Arrow

The Bastard Executioner

Big Bang Theory

Castle

Deadliest Catch

Doctor Who

Dominion

The Flash

Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares

Grimm

Hell's Kitchen

Heroes Reborn

Last Week with John Oliver

Legends of Tomorrow

Lost Girl

Marvel's Agents of Shield

Masterchef

The Muppets

Star Wars Rebels

Supergirl

The Vampire Diaries

The Walking Dead

Which MUST-WATCH programs are on you watch list?

In addition, daytime career and after-hours endeavors as a history professor have kept me very busy. On the topic of teaching, I have a really good complement of history students this semester. However, the jury’s still out on whether or not they’ll be interested in receiving extra credit for coming to class in costumes on Wednesday, October 28th. That will be an excellent litmus test on how awesome they are. We’ll see…

Another endeavor that I’m putting energy into is my official YouTube Channel at CLICK HERE. There's already 27 subscribers, but I am anxious to see that number grow, so please sign up now.

My Official Jaz Primo Videos playlist is at CLICK HERE. If you haven’t watched my latest YouTube video for the week of September 20th, please watch it now at CLICK HERE.

Until later, enjoy life; be kind to those around you, and Happy Reading! Peace.

Jaz Has His Own YouTube Channel!

Hi! I hope that all is well in your world.

I have great news to share with you today. I have my very own YouTube channel, and you can subscribe to it right now by clicking HERE!

I’m very excited to have a video log so that I can speak to you directly versus merely in textual format. I’ll be able to cover a number of topics related to me, my novels, or various events or developments that I want to share with you verbally. For those who are hearing impaired, I’m actively working on the transcription function for closed captioning. I’m very new at this, so I appreciate your patience as I work through things.

There are already a handful of videos available for you to watch, including some background about who I am, why you should read my novels, and what makes my Sunset Vampires different from traditional vampires in films and literature. I’m really excited about the potential that a YouTube channel brings to reaching out to you through another modality.

I enjoy a number of YouTube channels, including Emergency Awesome, which is operated by a nice guy named Charlie who covers films and television shows related to fantasy, superheroes, science fiction, and comic books. If you’d like to subscribe to Emergency Awesome, click HERE.

After you get to my YouTube Channel, you’ll see a series of playlists. My official Jaz Primo videos are stored under the playlist titled “Official Jaz Primo Videos.” Okay, so I realize that you could probably easily figure that out on your own, but it makes my OCD feel assuaged by saying it.

Please try out the videos and let me know what you think. I hope that over time I’ll get the hang of adding enhancements to the videos such as clickable links and overlay images during the videos. I’m all about baby steps. Besides, I’m also trying to keep writing on my novels. How’s that sound?

Thanks for all of your support, and please try out my YouTube channel as soon as you can.

Peace.

TV Show-ing Instead of Reading or Writing

Hello and welcome to my unadulterated (because I’m still such a kid!) confession.

Whatever I reveal can – and likely, will – be held against me in a court of public opinion.

Forgive me, reader, for I have sinned…but I’m LOVING it!

Foremost, instead of diligently writing on Bringer Unleashed, much less making any progress on recent novels I’ve begun reading, I’ve spent my time watching programs. Sometimes, I’ve even been…*gasp*…binge-watching.

Yes, I’ve been “TV show-ing” more than writing or reading.

Marvel's Daredevil Season 1 is on Netflix.

First and foremost, I’ve fallen under the spell of Netflix’s Daredevil. In my defense, the entire 13-episode first season was tantalizingly dropped into my lap all at once, creating an immediate urge to plop onto my couch and stare at the huge plasma TV screen before me. Let’s face it, Daredevil is well-conceived and has marvelous character development with engaging plot lines. Who wouldn’t want to get lost in quality programming like that? It seems as if the Marvel properties have reached near-atmospheric engagement in recent years; a development that, as an avid Marvel fan since childhood, has pleased me to no end. Compelling storyline aside, the masterful casting of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin) has skyrocketed this new series to the top of my binge-watching, even momentarily knocking Castle binging from my daily activity. (Fear not…Castle season 6 returns to my daily activities once Daredevil is complete.)

Wait, there’s more?

Game of Thrones Season 5 on HBO has elevated the fantasy drama genre for viewers.

Yes! The new season of Game of Thrones has begun, so I’ve been watching (and re-watching) the newest episodes. Add to that, I’ve discovered a marvelous YouTube channel called Emergency Awesome that’s run by a pleasant, informed, and highly knowledgeable person named Charlie, who I now follow and check daily for informative and engaging revelations and insights into some of my favorite programs, films, and comics, including Game of Thrones, Daredevil, The Flash, Gotham, Agents of Shield, the upcoming Star Wars and Marvel superhero films, and the entire DC and Marvel character/comic universes. Charlie’s simply amazing!

You can subscribe to Emergency Awesome by clicking here.

What have you been binge-watching recently?